[Cedric3]

I want to develop an business owner/entrepreneurial mind set but I don't currently have the means to go to business school-

???What can I do to develop the mentality needed to be a quality businessman???

???Are there books you've read that really shaped who you are as a commercial thinker??? Intelligent things you could actually apply in your daily operations not emotive marketing propaganda that improved your outlook but didn't help you create any real $$$.

???Do you think business school, MBA Programs, and college in general are overrated, and aren't needed to be a location independent free from the corporate gulag entrepreneur???

[komatiite]

I was once told that the best thing to do in the business world is to get good at something that is either hard to do, or something that people are afraid of doing. Learn a technical skill, or work on developing a talent you already have. If you get good at that, you bring value to who or whatever you are working for, and the business end will take care of itself with time...

[kali]

Robert Kiyosaki's Choose to be Rich (13 cd set) is a great primer to having the business mentality.
Dont waste your time with a Masters degree.

[Snuke]

The greatest advice I got, was from my grandfather, who told me that no matter what you do, learn everything you can about it. Don't just put in a days worth of work, obsess about it. Make your self so valuable that your skill become what I like to claim, “over priced/valued”. What I have noticed is too many people go into business without truly being the best at what they are. They have just lost their biggest advantage over their competition.

So don't rush into the business world. Once you find out what you want to do (hopefully something you like), go work for someone and learn as much as you can. Learn the insides of everything. The business side, the marketing side, etc…… Make it so that without you, the company can not operate as efficient. Just this past year my boss, now partner stroked me a 6 digit check if I promised to stop drinking. I made myself so valuable that he felt it was smart for him to pay me 6 digits to stop fucking around and hurting myself and maybe hurting his business.

Once you have mastered your skill set (hopefully on someone elses dollar) you can now go out on your own. Two things will happen at this point, you're pissed off boss will either let you walk, or cut you into the business as a partner. If your skill set has gotten to what I have called “over priced/valued” he will not want you leaving, so the smart thing for him is to probably cut you in (you have just created yourself another option). This is important as you develop your owner/entrepreneurial mindset. You will learn that the most important thing is “options”.
I could go on for hours and hours about this type of shit. But the most important thing is - make yourself as valuable as possible. Kind of sound like “game”, doesn't it?

As for school, the best school is the school of reality and experience. Get out and start working.

Books that helped? Thats tough because I don't know what industry you're planning on working in, but I would recommend reading about the lives of successful people in the past and pick up their common traits. You can start with the biographies of Warren Buffett, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, and a Canadian named Ted Rogers. These were the books that influenced me the most. Didn't learn anything industry specific, but learned all the common traits that they all shared. Also read the Art of War, and How to Win Friends and Influence People. Almost forgot about those two.

Its a long road entrepreneurship, but it can be very rewarding. It will not happen overnight, I started at 18 and am now 26 and have just gotten my life to where I want it. So dont get depressed if shit don't happen fast. Just bog down and keep working hard, and dont forget to have fun dude.

[libertad1312]

i recommend the books rich dad poor dad, secrets of the millionaire mind, 4 hour work week and millionaire fastlane.
but yea, as kali said, i would not spend too much on studying theory. just use this books as a rough guide and motivation along your journey. the biggest learning effect will come from starting something and learning from your mistakes.

[Cedric3]

Thanks.
Komatitte-
What might those things be? Im thinking some kind of analyst or modeling in securities maybe.
Kali-
I should just push books like Kyosaki-I read he didn't even own all those apartments in Phoenix he claimed-it was all sensationalism.

Why is an MBA bad? I know if you get it from Chump State College its a waste but a solid GMAT and University of CHicago or Wharton is nothing to sneeze at. One of the most interesting cats I ever met traveling was an importer with links to China and an MBA from U of Chicago-he was on a higher level mentally than most thats for sure-kids study hard as a Spartan early-the tv and pizza isn't worth making 40k all your life.

Snuke-
It's really not honesty with yourself if you can't passionately immerse yourself in what you do. Your'e so right about that. In Game-I think women want someone who's authentic to themselves at all costs-it's like the self delusional "nice guys" there are no nice guys-just guys who lie to themselves and think by being a chump panties will hit the floor. Being inauthentic is the worst form of existence across the board of human experience isn't it?
libertad-
Are there some really deep manifestos out there that would make upper echelon (Vanderbilt, U of Chicago, Harvard)rigid academics happy (not for the sake of being anal retentive but because the frame work and concepts of the book are so solid that they can't be denied for their quality and usefulness) and be useful?

A classic example I can think of a book that everyone still uses and is written air tight intellectually is Benjamin Graham's "Security Analysis"-I like a deep book that's equally useful. Iv'e seen all the typical Barnes and Nobles fair and most of it is just not informative or inspirational-I perceive it to be emotive marketing sensationalism. It's like the fitness industry 6-pack abs in 90 days crap-no bust your ass, eat clean, be patient-all else is sensationalism.

---
Is it just me or if you have enough $$$ you can take a simple idea and make real $$$ with it. The whole it takes $ to make $ idea. Para ejemplo, If I could get an $800k loan I could open a franchise low scale fast food and probablly net $200-250/year? So if I had 3-400k I could get that loan to do that.

[Sombro]

Supply and demand.

Look for the demand an provide the supply.

[strengthstudent]

You don't learn how to make money in academic institutions. I have studied business studies in a university and majority of it is waste of time. In finance you don't learn how to make money -- you learn how to manually calculate stock discounts although almost for everything there are online calculators available. In marketing or entrepreneurship studies you learn how complicated simple concepts can be: you will go through many charts and diagrams made by people who never made any real money. You learn how the 'innovations'(one of the latest academic trend words) impact the world and how important it is for growth. In leadership studies you learn theoretically how to be a leader although leadership can't be learned theoretically.

They are all bunch of action fakers. They are like people who study game through books but never go out. They think they are taking action but in reality they are only faking it. Business schools lack the most important knowledge of doing business: motivation/mindset/risk and practical knowledge how to make money.

[worldwidetraveler]

Looks like the OP was banned but it is still a good question.

The biggest think I learned in college was how to learn. Seems strange but I found that there was a process to how I learn.

I was already good at partying but college helped me to refine that as well.

Typically, the best way to learn is by doing. Most people will quit before they realize any success. That doesn't matter if you went to college or didn't.

Being consistent has been the key for me. You have to be smart about it and not continue doing things that don't work but you also need to be constantly working towards your vision.

[Gringuito]

All the suggestions here are good. My advice sounds cliche but it's do something that you are passionate about. Something you would do even if it wasn't for the money. One example: I was using a product that sucked so bad it really pissed my off. So I created one that worked the way that I thought it should. Turned out lots of people agreed with me. At the time I wasn't even thinking about selling it openly, I just wanted to use it. It turned into one of the largest companies I've owned.

If you don't have a complete passion for what you're doing you won't be able to spend the 80 hours a week or more that you'll be living/breathing your company. You rarely get anything for free. When you own the company all your employees get to go home at the end of the day and sleep. You're still awake thinking how you can improve and survive. You need to love being mostly out of control. my 2c

[Sombro]

(02-16-2014 12:14 AM)Snuke Wrote:  

The greatest advice I got, was from my grandfather, who told me that no matter what you do, learn everything you can about it. Don't just put in a days worth of work, obsess about it. Make your self so valuable that your skill become what I like to claim, “over priced/valued”. What I have noticed is too many people go into business without truly being the best at what they are. They have just lost their biggest advantage over their competition.

So don't rush into the business world. Once you find out what you want to do (hopefully something you like), go work for someone and learn as much as you can. Learn the insides of everything. The business side, the marketing side, etc…… Make it so that without you, the company can not operate as efficient. Just this past year my boss, now partner stroked me a 6 digit check if I promised to stop drinking. I made myself so valuable that he felt it was smart for him to pay me 6 digits to stop fucking around and hurting myself and maybe hurting his business.

Once you have mastered your skill set (hopefully on someone elses dollar) you can now go out on your own. Two things will happen at this point, you're pissed off boss will either let you walk, or cut you into the business as a partner. If your skill set has gotten to what I have called “over priced/valued” he will not want you leaving, so the smart thing for him is to probably cut you in (you have just created yourself another option). This is important as you develop your owner/entrepreneurial mindset. You will learn that the most important thing is “options”.
I could go on for hours and hours about this type of shit. But the most important thing is - make yourself as valuable as possible. Kind of sound like “game”, doesn't it?

As for school, the best school is the school of reality and experience. Get out and start working.

Books that helped? Thats tough because I don't know what industry you're planning on working in, but I would recommend reading about the lives of successful people in the past and pick up their common traits. You can start with the biographies of Warren Buffett, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, and a Canadian named Ted Rogers. These were the books that influenced me the most. Didn't learn anything industry specific, but learned all the common traits that they all shared. Also read the Art of War, and How to Win Friends and Influence People. Almost forgot about those two.

Its a long road entrepreneurship, but it can be very rewarding. It will not happen overnight, I started at 18 and am now 26 and have just gotten my life to where I want it. So dont get depressed if shit don't happen fast. Just bog down and keep working hard, and dont forget to have fun dude.

Exactly. In other words, leverage. I've worked places where idiot management hated me, but couldn't fire me without the whole place going under.
Make yourself as valuable as possible, and make sure everyone knows it (without being cocky).